The present invention relates to a method for matching individuals based on the physical appearance of at least one of the individuals
In many known matchmaking systems and methods, actual visual information is not used, and is only described in words: “blue eyes”, “auburn hair”, less often “oval face”, “cute dimple”, by way of example. The criteria for gathering and providing such textual information on the visual aspects of personal appearance are dictated by a limited space allotted by computer systems, the system designers and managers.
In many popular Internet matchmaking systems in use today, personal data of an individual who is a prospective match is classified into the categories of age, height, weight, skin color, ethnic background, level of physical activity or exercise, eye color, hair color, specific body part measurements, eye-glass wear status, smoking/non-smoking status, and a personal entry wherein the object individual can enter a short personal message or subjective description. Most of the system database is actually taken up by categories that have nothing to do with personal appearance, like the level of education, salary level, management level, personal interests, hobbies, parental status, range of dating travel, and geographical location. It is possible that there exists a system similar to an on-premise use dating center, which features viewing a short video recorded of a database member being interviewed in a relaxed setting and free to relay any message to a viewer. In such a system, physical characteristics of a database member are not clearly discerned due to the video made to display the person's frame, not his facial features and due to the quality of the video, which is usually an afterthought to the printed information. In the case of an Internet service, the image quality is also subject to the viewer's computer quality. Moreover, many prospective candidates are not interested in having their pictures posted on the Internet. As a result of using these systems, the date seekers either spend their date search ineffectively, being disappointed, or forced by circumstances to settle for a match that does not agree with their expectations for the physical appearance of the found candidates. Since the set of these candidates already agrees with the user's requirements, such a system may provides a plethora of so-called matching candidates who, in reality, are very far from the perceived true match. Even a matchmaking service providing a picture of each candidate does not categorize the visual information according to visual criteria, particularly to visual criteria that are difficult to characterize and/or quantify. Thus, such methods do not provide the user with selected lists of candidates based on various pre-selected physical criteria preferences, such that what is often most important to the user—personal appearance and, especially, facial features—is left largely to chance.
There is therefore a recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a method for matchmaking that provides its users results based on their physical and facial visual requirements and allows for a significantly more accurate personal matching rate than methods known heretofore. It would be of further advantage if such a method would be enjoyable, quick and simple to use.